DOUBLING DOWN

MAGA Candidate’s Shocking Move After Twisted Ad Revealed

Vivek Ramaswamy has faced bipartisan criticism for the ad, but he has doubled down.

Ohio’s MAGA candidate for governor is embracing a controversial attack advertisement that brought the alleged sexual abuse of his opponent into the spotlight.

Trump-endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy has been slammed for a twisted ad featuring the estranged mother of his opponent, Amy Acton, whom she alleges did nothing after her stepfather raped her as a child.

In the Ramaswamy-supported ad, first obtained byThe Rooster, Donna Arthur calls her estranged daughter a “liar” and says she “needs help.”

Despite bipartisan backlash, Ramaswamy is doubling down on the sick attack. Ramaswamy’s campaign will pay $4 million to air the ad across Ohio on the home stretch to Election Day, Axios reported Tuesday. Sources close to his campaign told the outlet that the decision was based on how the ad performed well in tests with “persuadable” voters.

In the 60-second ad, Arthur does not mention the alleged sexual abuse by Acton’s stepfather, but disputes another claim of hers.

“She says she grew up living in a tent—none of that is true. She’s lied her entire life,” Arthur says. “My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself. People can change, but first they have to tell the truth, and my daughter still isn’t doing that.”

The Acton campaign has responded to the ad by releasing a 30-second advertisement of its own featuring her brother, Phil Stearns, condemning Ramaswamy.

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“I received a lot of abuse, but Amy always got the worst of it,” Stearns says. “She continued to receive that abuse because she knew she had to protect me from that, and if she hadn’t done that, who knows where I would have ended up.”

“She was 11 and 12 years old, and to think that that’s somehow a talking point—shame on Vivek,” Stearns adds. “The contempt he has for Amy is the contempt he has for Ohio. He’s not fit to lead.”

Ramaswamy campaign spokesperson Connie Luck released a statement before this ad aired, deflecting the issue.

“We don’t know what happened between Amy and her mother, who first spoke out about Amy in 2020, but we know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist who has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of before deciding who to entrust as governor,” Luck said.

Acton, 60, and her mother haven’t interacted since 1978, when Acton testified in court against her stepfather, whom her mother defended. Acton’s stepfather had been charged with rape and was indicted after her biological father filed a police report, according to a newspaper report cited by The New York Times. Acton’s stepfather fled the state and died in 2004 without being convicted.

In 2019, Acton told the now-defunct daily newspaper, The Vindicator, that she was sexually abused from ages 9 to 12, the Times’ report noted.

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The Ramaswamy campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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